HomeNewsBriefBolivia Cocaine Seizures Down 52% in 2013
BRIEF

Bolivia Cocaine Seizures Down 52% in 2013

BOLIVIA / 5 JUL 2013 BY MARGUERITE CAWLEY EN

Cocaine seizures in Bolivia fell by 52 percent for the first half of 2013 compared with the same period last year despite an increase in counter-narcotics operations, which may not represent quite the success the goverment is claiming.

According to numbers presented by Bolivia's top anti-narcotics official, Felipe Caceres, cocaine and cocaine base seizures dropped from 20.3 tons in the first half of 2012 to 9.73 tons in the same period of 2013, reported La Razon. In addition, marijuana seizures fell by 84 percent compared with last year. The number of anti-drug operations carried out, meanwhile, rose, from 6,635 in 2012 to 6,743 in 2013. 

Caceres claimed the decrease in seizures was because the increase in operations had succeeded in slowing down the drug trade, tackling trafficking activity on the Brazilian and Peruvian borders through improved border controls, and cracking down on laboratories and the maceration pits used to make coca paste. Caceres also said that Bolivia had become a secondary producer of cocaine base, and primarily a transit country for product originating in Peru.

The minister also noted that the country's Joint Task Force erradicated 5,062 hectares of illegal coca in the first half of 2013.

InSight Crime Analysis

In 2012, Bolivian drug seizures increased compared with 2011, and at the beginning of 2013, Bolivia released statistics showing a dramatic rise in cocaine seizures since 2006, when President Evo Morales took office. As noted by InSight Crime, this information appeared to be an attempt to counter US claims that Bolivia is not pulling its weight in the drug war.

US accusations that Bolivia is failing to adequately combat drug trafficking have caused continuous tension between the two countries and the two countries severed ties when the United States shut down its anti-narcotics office in Bolivia in May 2013, three weeks after Morales pushed USAID out of the country for allegedly operating with political aims. 

Bolivian claims that reduced drug seizures are indicative of successful anti-drug efforts could be accurate, but would then cast doubt on Morales' previous use of rises in drug seizures to make the same claim.

In addition, the country's interior minister said in June that Bolivia is struggling with rising violent crime, spurred in part by under-staffed and under-resourced police, and the country -- particularly the Santa Cruz department -- has become a major hub for transnational drug traffickers. In this context, the decrease in seizures could just as easily be illustrative of less effective operations.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BOLIVIA / 8 NOV 2022

The Amazon is being plundered at an accelerating rate. Deforesters across Bolivia and Ecuador are emboldened to clear trees for…

BOLIVIA / 25 JUL 2022

Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, has gradually become one of South America's main criminal threats, with Chile its latest target.

BOLIVIA / 26 JAN 2022

Authorities in Bolivia have arrested the Andean nation’s former anti-drug chief as he tried to flee the country, but how…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…